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Hong Kong Aims to Lead in Green Finance and Web 3.0, Says Financial Secretary

by Blockchain NewsJuly 9, 2023

Hong Kong is setting its sights on becoming a global leader in two new fields: green finance and Web 3.0, according to a recent speech by the city’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan. The speech outlined Hong Kong’s strategic plans for economic development, with a special emphasis on these two innovative sectors.

Chan highlighted Hong Kong’s dedication to green finance, a commitment that mirrors the worldwide trend towards sustainable and eco-friendly practices in finance. Last year, Hong Kong’s green finance initiatives reached a staggering 80 billion US dollars, making up one-third of Asia’s total bond issuance. The city is also leading the way in setting market standards for green bonds, with the launch of 30-year US dollar green bonds and 20-year Euro bonds.

In a groundbreaking move, Hong Kong has started issuing green bonds using tokenization, showcasing its commitment to financial innovation.

Alongside green finance, Hong Kong is also setting its sights on Web 3.0, with a special focus on virtual assets. Drawing from experiences around the globe, the city began issuing licenses for these assets on June 1st. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission is tasked with enforcing effective regulation and fostering sustainable growth in this sector.

The Financial Secretary also highlighted in his speech that as a financial center, the market value of Hong Kong’s stock market is 4.6 trillion US dollars, and the scale of asset management and wealth management businesses is also 4.6 trillion US dollars.

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Weekend Crypto News Recap: BTC, ETH, PEPE, METIS, ORDI

by Blockchain NewsJuly 9, 2023

Below is a weekend market news recap on BTC, ETH, PEPE, METIS, ORDI.

$METIS and $ETH:

On July 9, the PolyNetwork exploiter sold 43.27K $METIS for 349.4 $ETH ($652K) on the Ethereum chain over the past 15 hours, causing a more than 10% drop in $METIS price. The exploiter still holds 62,818 $METIS ($961K) and may continue to sell more, potentially affecting the $METIS market.

$PEPE:

Also on July 9, a prominent crypto trader known as Dimethyltryptamine.eth made a substantial sale of 180 billion $PEPE for 149.4 $ETH, equivalent to $279K. This sale leaves 2.07 trillion $PEPE, worth approximately $3.24M, in circulation. The trader initially spent 0.125 $ETH ($251) to buy 5.9 trillion $PEPE and has since sold a total of 3.83 trillion $PEPE for 2,411 $ETH, netting around $4.5M.

$ETH and $BTC:

On July 8, a smart trader identified as 0xe28, who has a trading profit of $841K, started to long $ETH and $BTC. The trader’s positions in $ETH and $BTC could potentially influence the market prices of these cryptocurrencies.

Ordinals(#ORDI) and Bitcoin ($BTC):

On July 8, Dune Analytics data showed that the Bitcoin NFT protocol Ordinals has minted approximately 15.4 million inscriptions, generating a total fee income of 1813 BTC, worth about $54.975M.

Bitcoin ($BTC):

On July 7, Hong Kong-listed company Linekong Interactive Group (08267.HK) announced that it had purchased a total of 44.2812 Bitcoins on the open market for $590K and $650K respectively. This corporate investment in Bitcoin could potentially influence its market value.

$ANKR and Flare($FLR):

Also on July 7, Ankr announced that it would soon be adding the Flare blockchain to its RPC service. This development is expected to benefit developers looking to build scalable and data-connected dApps on top of Flare.

Bitcoin ($BTC):

On July 6, Matrixport’s report indicated that Bitcoin reached a one-year high on June 22, 2023, signaling the end of bear markets and the start of new crypto bull markets. This signal has been triggered four times, with bull markets occurring in 2013, 2017, and 2021. Based on previous signals, it is a 100% probability that by the end of 2024, Bitcoin will experience another massive bull market with a price target of $125,000 (+310%).

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Tagged : #BTC / #ETH / Crypto / Metis / News / ORDI / PEPE

Bitcoin Miner Marathon Mined 979 BTC and Liquidated 700 in June 2023

by Blockchain NewsJuly 9, 2023

Marathon is a digital asset technology company that focuses on supporting and securing the Bitcoin ecosystem, and it is in the process of becoming one of the largest and most sustainably powered Bitcoin mining operations in North America as it claims.

In June 2023, Marathon Digital Holdings created 979 Bitcoin (BTC), increasing the year’s total to 5,120 BTC.

The installed hash rate climbed by 8% to 21.8 EH/s, while the operational hash rate increased by 16% to 17.7 exahashes per second (EH/s).With the start of mining activities, the joint venture in Abu Dhabi is on schedule to achieve 7 EH/s by the end of the year.

The joint venture in Abu Dhabi began mining operations and is on track to reach 7 EH/s by the end of the year.

The company reported unrestricted cash and cash equivalents of $114 million and increased unrestricted Bitcoin holdings to 12,538 BTC (approximately $382 million) as of June 30, 2023.

The decrease in bitcoin production compared to the previous month was due to weather-related curtailment in Texas and a significant decrease in transaction fees.

Marathon‘s operating fleet increased to approximately 149,900 Bitcoin miners, theoretically capable of producing approximately 17.7 EH/s, as of July 1, 2023.

Marathon sold 700 BTC during June and plans to sell a portion of its bitcoin holdings in future periods to support monthly operations, manage its treasury, and for general corporate purposes.

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Tagged : #BTC / Bitcoin / Bitcoin Miner / Marathon / News

Coinbase’s Legal Chief Fires on SEC’s Crypto Regulation Approach

by Blockchain NewsJuly 9, 2023

On July 8, Paul Grewal, the chief legal officer of Coinbase, tweeted a number of times about his displeasure with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approach to cryptocurrency regulation. Grewal said that the SEC disregarded important legal precedents and principles, such as the Howey case judgement from the Supreme Court, which set the standards for what qualifies as an investment contract.

Grewal argued that the SEC has not considered the requirement of enforceable rights against an issuer, a key part of the Howey test. He also accused the SEC of disregarding the public interest and investor protection, despite having allowed Coinbase to list publicly over two years ago.

The tweets further claimed that the SEC is ignoring statements from its own Chair that there are no regulatory authorities applicable to cryptocurrency exchanges. Grewal also pointed out that the SEC seems to be overlooking recent Supreme Court warnings against regulatory overreach in areas reserved for Congress.

This public expression of frustration comes after a series of legal developments.

On March 22, Coinbase announced that the SEC had issued a “Wells notice” to the company regarding an undefined portion of its listed digital assets, its staking service Coinbase Earn, Coinbase Prime, and Coinbase Wallet. Despite this, Coinbase remained confident in the legality of its assets and services and welcomed a legal process to provide clarity.

On June 6, the SEC charged Coinbase with operating its crypto asset trading platform as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency. The SEC also charged Coinbase for failing to register the offer and sale of its crypto asset staking-as-a-service program.

In a June 17 letter filed in court, Coinbase’s lawyers criticized the SEC for continuing to avoid the company’s rulemaking petition, which calls for the establishment of a regulatory framework for digital assets.

Despite these disagreements, Grewal agrees with the SEC that many of these issues should be decided promptly as matters of law. He continues to advocate for fair and reasonable engagement from the SEC on digital assets.

Image source: ShutterStock

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Tagged : Coinbase / Crypto Asset / Cryptocurrency / News / PAUL GREWAL / SEC